Last week she handed in two motions to be discussed in Bern, each backed by 25 parliamentarians, which urge the authorities to improve what she describes as ‘total opacity’ surrounding the funding of religious communities in Switzerland, in particular mosques and Muslim associations.

Fiala wants every association that benefits from foreign money to be listed in the commercial register so that their accounts can be supervised by an independent cantonal authority and auditor. She also wants religious foundations to become more transparent by forcing them to give more precise details on their goals when they are listed, and to be sanctioned when they do not comply.

Around 350,000 and 400,000 Muslims live in Switzerland, around 12% of whom are Swiss citizens. They represent an extremely diverse community divided along ethnic and linguistic lines with around 80% originating from the Balkans region and Turkey.

Around 12-15% are said to actively practice their faith by regularly visiting one of about 250 mosques. These are managed by Islamic communities which are organised mostly as small private associations as well as a small number of foundations.

She claims the Saudi-funded Muslim World Leagueexternal link, an NGO that promotes the spread of Islam, for example, supports at least 30 Albanian mosques where Salafist ideas are preached.

A ‘marginal’ phenomenon

But opinions appear split on the issue of foreign donors.

“I doubt whether Saïda Keller-Messahli is able to give any proof to support her claims concerning Arab money,” says Andreas Tunger-Zanettiexternal link, coordinator of the Center for Research on Religion at Lucerne University.

He said the average Swiss mosque had a list at the entrance where you can see the names of individuals and families and the amount of money they have donated during the year.

“There may be additional amounts coming in from wealthy people in Switzerland or from external sources but if I look at how these mosques are working and their external appearance I don't see Arab money. They are not ostentatious at all,” he declared.

Tunger-Zanetti said the Zurich branch of Turkey’s religious affairs directorate (Diyanet) supervises 39 imams in Switzerland and pays their salaries. But members pay the rent of rooms or buildings, electricity and other expenses.

Christophe Monnotexternal link, a sociologist on religions at Lausanne University and, like Tunger-Zanetti, a member of the Group of Researchers on Islam in Switzerland (GRIS), believes the financing of Swiss mosques is a ‘marginal phenomenon’.

“98% of Swiss mosques don’t have problematic management or groups that are out of control or dangerous,” he said.

Tunger-Zanetti nonetheless felt that a handful of mosques such as Geneva, Winterthur and Faisal mosques in Basel needed ‘a closer look to clarify what is wrong’.

“It is however of public knowledge that governmental organisations and private individuals send donations from abroad. But the Federal Intelligence Service has no intelligence to suggest that the external funding of mosques could have a consequence for state security," the cabinet told Fiala in Julyexternal link in answer to another parliamentary question.

Ongoing investigation

On December 18, the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper reported that the Swiss Office of the Attorney General was investigating 20 people for allegedly funding terrorism. Some have links to religious foundations or associations in Switzerland.

Six criminal proceedings are underway for “support of a criminal organisation”. They include people with ties to a foundation in canton Geneva and an association in Bern, according to the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

No proceedings have been opened against any associations or foundations, the attorney general’s office noted, confirming the report. While these organisations “play a role” in the wider context of terrorist financing, the authorities are only concerned with representatives or members at this stage, the office said.

According to the recent Financial Action Task Force report, Switzerland has a “small number of networks” that finance terrorist organisations.

end of infobox

Fiala, who has worked with lawyers and judges on her new parliamentary motions, believes something must nonetheless be done to improve transparency.

But she is likely to face an uphill battle. In Switzerland the freedoms of association, conscience and religion are held up as fundamental rights. Small associations with no economic goals are not required to be listed in the commercial register and declare their financial status.

The recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report on Switzerlandexternal link described transparency measures applicable to small associations as ‘insufficient’. But as the government declared in July: “Adapting regulations on associations would restrict freedom of association and need a new formal legal basis. Such a restriction would have to be in the public interest and proportionate to the final aim.”

Foundations

Meanwhile, the situation for foundations is evolving slowly. Since January 1, 2016 all religious and family foundations must be listed with the commercial register so that their accounts are audited correctly. They have five years to get registered.

Switzerland’s biggest mosque was reportedly built with Saudi funds and inaugurated in 1978 by the former king of Saudi Arabia, Khaled Ben Abdulaziz.

Facing criticism by worshippers over the running of the mosque, the foundation’s director general Ahmed Beyari, has rejected the accusations. He told Swiss public radio (RTS) last month that the foundation was independent and not financed by Saudi funds.

However, such details still remain hard for outside observers to verify. Under Swiss law the data and discussions foundations share with the state remain strictly private.

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